Stem-cell regenerative medicine as applied to the penis.

Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine has emerged as a new scientific interdisciplinary field focusing on developing new strategies to repair or recreate tissues and organs. This review gathers findings on erectile dysfunction and, Peyronie's disease from recent preclinical and clinical studies under heading of stem-cell regenerative medicine.

Over the last 2 years, preclinical studies on rat models demonstrated the tangible beneficial role of stem cells and stromal vascular fraction in the context of preventing fibrosis and restoring erectile function in different animal models of Erectile dysfunction and Peyronie's disease. There are not solid evidences in the clinical settings.

Large randomized, double blind clinical trials are needed to prove the efficacy of stem-cell therapy on human patients. Owing to the lack of solid evidences, the stem-cell therapy should be only administrated in a clinical research setting.

Current opinion in urology. 2019 Apr 16 [Epub ahead of print]

Edoardo Pozzi, Asif Muneer, Pippa Sangster, Hussain M Alnajjar, Andrea Salonia, Carlo Bettocchi, Fabio Castiglione, David J Ralph, Trauma, Reconstructive Urology Working Party of the European Association of Urology (EAU) Young Academic Urologists (YAU)

Department of Urology., Division of Experimental Oncology/Unit of Urology, Urological Research Institute, IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele., Urology, Andrology and Kidney Transplantation Unit, Department of Emergency and Organ Transplantation, University of Bari, Bari, Italy.